Quinn for Illinois launched a new Web video today highlighting Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner’s leadership style and record of mismanagement after a recent report brought to light that residents with developmental disabilities at long-term care facilities he owned were subjected to abuse, neglect and “deplorable” conditions.

Rather than take responsibility for the tragic results at the Rauner homes and explain what went wrong and what he did about it, he instead placed blame for drownings, deadly attacks and rapes on the backs of his “management team.” In video footage, Rauner says what happened at his American Habilitation Services was not just bad for the residents it was also: “a bad investment for us.”

Rauner has refused to detail what and when he knew of the “deplorable” conditions, or what he has done to remedy them.

The video includes reaction from state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) - a leading advocate for protecting the most vulnerable - who summed up Rauner’s M.O. earlier this week:

“With Rauner, in his case, both with nursing homes and his organization that dealt with people with disabilities, the profits seemed to come first, the people seemed to come second.”

Respect Greg Harris, but the “profits before people” critique just won’t move many voters. It might prevent some Dems from switching. It’s a political/economic ideological statement. More powerful are the criticisms about management, responsibility, and people suffering.

Like everything they produce…it drags. If it’s supposed to incite moral outrage, it simply doesn’t. Many people won’t get to Greg Harris; they’ll exit before he enters. This is on the very cusp of pass/fail. It will pass for the supporters, but probably not anyone else. The script should have required someone to read it who did not go to the “Jack Drees School of Emotional reading”.

The voiceover is distracting because the delivery isn’t smooth. I would guess that a female voice was a deliberate choice, but I wonder if a male voice would help sway male voters, since Rauner has such high unfavorables with women. Greg Harris’s statements were more powerful when he was off-camera and his comments were displayed. And why not just take it to Rauner with a clincher of “Bruce Rauner: Putting profits first, people second.”

If I was Mr. Rauner I would ask Gov. Quinn “If you are so concerned about nursing home residents,why when you were Lt. Governor was the State Police ordered to stop conducting nursing home sweeps to remove unregistered sex offenders and fugitives who were terrorizing residents?”

D. I too agree with the criticism or questions already raised about the Greg Harris bit. It seems like a complete non-sequitur that he’s used in this, unless he’s just paying back a favor to somebody for something.

Heh, yeah Walker– I think the same thing–that the Quinn staff is testing some of their ideas out on the always game and brutally honest CapFax readers. (Kind of like how new plays are tested out with savvy theater-going Chicago audiences, and then cleaned up before they go to Broadway.)